Jump to content

Most pianistic cue from a movie?


Eric_JWFAN

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 45
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

The opening to We Don't Wanna Grow Up from Hook. Um..... thats all I can think of right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bah, most modern western piano music, especially in film scores is barely rich or complex, nor very emotive.

Try listening to more eastern piano material....Persian and Russian...extremely impressive stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amazing Stories.End Credits.Very E.T. like

I can't remember this. Anywhere I can find an audio file of it?

Bah, most modern western piano music, especially in film scores is barely rich or complex, nor very emotive.

Try listening to more eastern piano material....Persian and Russian...extremely impressive stuff.

And your favorite Persian piano film music cue is??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Poledouris' It's My Party is a piano-only score, performed by him.

It's no particularly complex, though-- but then, "Over the Moon" doesn't strike me as particularly complex either, which does not make it a bad cue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Crime Spree" from Dick Tracy (Elfman)

Jerry Goldsmith's Studs Lonigan has some great piano playing, performed by John Williams.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"The Portrait" from Titanic.  My personal favourite rendition of the love theme from the film.

And it's just the demo version. :)

But is it really as complex as, say, End Credits from E.T.?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Firm also popped into my head. And let's not forget Goldsmith's Planet of the Apes, which has a lot of cool piano stuff performed by Goldsmith's piano teacher, Jakob Gimpel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Firm also popped into my head. And let's not forget Goldsmith's Planet of the Apes, which has a lot of cool piano stuff performed by Goldsmith's piano teacher, Jakob Gimpel.

Wow I didn't know Goldsmith studied with Gimpel. Have you ever heard his arrangement of the Marines' Hymn by Offenbach? It has some of the most incredible piano writing I've ever seen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well williams studied with the levine family, perhaps the best piano teacher duo of the century.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well williams studied with the levine family, perhaps the best piano teacher duo of the century.

I am a Levine. They are the Lhevinnes.:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The most striking piano I've heard lately is that hammering piano note in Eyes Wide Shut when Cruise is searching the streets. It never fails to wake me up :devil: .

Alex

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course, The Piano also relies heavily on said instrument.

Wow I didn't know Goldsmith studied with Gimpel. Have you ever heard his arrangement of the Marines' Hymn by Offenbach? It has some of the most incredible piano writing I've ever seen.

I have to admit I haven't heard from Gimpel aside from his association with Goldsmith - who, btw, also studied with Rozsa.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course, The Piano also relies heavily on said instrument.
Wow I didn't know Goldsmith studied with Gimpel. Have you ever heard his arrangement of the Marines' Hymn by Offenbach? It has some of the most incredible piano writing I've ever seen.

I have to admit I haven't heard from Gimpel aside from his association with Goldsmith - who, btw, also studied with Rozsa.

Have a look then, his arrangement of the famous Marines' Hymn by Offenbach.

WARNING: EXTREME PYROTECHNICS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW7Vk5jEVBU...arch=hoffenbach

Gimpel's virtuosity must have been just freakish. I wonder how good his most famous pupil (Jerry Goldsmith) was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't think of any other John Williams pieces to add at the moment. I think E.T. and Jurassic Park were good calls. I also like the Planet of The Apes by Jerry Goldsmith suggestion- there are some great bass piano notes used very effectively. But John Williams seems to write the music while at the piano, but only features the piano in selective movies like E.T., A.I., etc. The piano is almost completely absent from the entire Star Wars and Raiders sagas. Unless you count the piano crashes in the Bottle Of Hoth, which is only a few seconds. Actually I can't think of a big breakthrough piano solo since Chariots Of Fire by Vangelis. It is sad really, because the piano is my favorite instrument and seems to be negelected in scores these days. But here are some songs I recall at the moment, although "rich complex writing" may be debatable:

Ilia's Theme by Jerry Goldsmith has some pretty piano in it, although the melody is eventually handed over to the horn section. I think this was the last time a theme song was played as an "overture" before a movie presentation, if my trivia memory serves me correctly.

Tennessee from Pearl Harbor by Hans Zimmer. Nice piano, but although this is music used in the romantic scenes, some people thought it was depressing or called it a "dirge".

The Forgotten End Credits by James Horner. Features piano, but as one reviewer described, it's "wandering piano" and not a strong melody.

The Terminator Love Scene from the Terminator by Brad Fiedel. This is a nice 1 1/2 minute piano solo.

Final Fantasy 7 Main Theme has 4 1/2 minutes of beautiful piano by Uematsu Nobuo and should not be overlooked because it's Anime or CGI. In fact there are several "piano collections" to this saga.

Navras from Matrix Revolutions by Don Davis and Juno Reactor has a great piano bass line in this 9 minute song. It is not a piano solo (it's choir, orchestra and piano) I thought it was worth mentioning.

Top Gun Anthem by Harold Faltermyer. Nice escalating broken chords on the piano. Although it could be electronic piano and I don't know how strick you're being here.

K-PAX by Edward Shearmur has a nice opening piano theme, although it is more new age/ambient.

I find that because TV shows usually have a smaller budget and working under time constraints, piano and keyboards are often featured more liberally. If we expand to TV scores, then I would include:

Exoptar Ex Veritas from X-Files The Truth and the Light by Mark Snow

Smallville unreleased scores from Seasons 1-5 by Mark Snow- beautiful piano work throughout all seasons and I hope one day they release the scores.

Angel: Live Fast, Die Never soundtrack by Robert Kral. Especially the "Darla" piano music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The piano is almost completely absent from the entire Star Wars and Raiders sagas.  Unless you count the piano crashes in the Bottle Of Hoth, which is only a few seconds.

Plenty of piano in ROTJ, as far as I remember. Certainly in Luke and Leia.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The piano is almost completely absent from the entire Star Wars and Raiders sagas.  Unless you count the piano crashes in the Bottle Of Hoth, which is only a few seconds.

Plenty of piano in ROTJ, as far as I remember. Certainly in Luke and Leia.

Plenty of piano in JEDI?! That's crazy talk. :)The piano doesn't stand out to me on "Luke And Leia" on the original soundtrack. I hear mostly horns and flutes. However, I noticed on the "John Williams Conducts Music From The Star Wars Trilogy" with the Boston Pops recording, the piano in "Luke And Leia" is mixed a little better, but still doesn't carry the melody. Even if you did include that, it's only about 3 or 4 minutes out of 2 hours of score. I did be careful to say ALMOST completely absent.

Did you guys know there is an album called "Sketches On Star Wars" by the "Trotter Trio" that is all Jazz Piano versions of the Star Wars Themes? I'm not saying it's great, just something fun to hear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the beginning in a Road to Somewhere from Spirited Away, and pretty much most of Spirited Away. Thats the only one I can think of that hasn't been named.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Plenty of piano in JEDI?!  That's crazy talk.   :)The piano doesn't stand out to me on "Luke And Leia" on the original soundtrack.  I hear mostly horns and flutes.  .

from memory,I can't remember any piano in Luke and Leia either.

K.M.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some of you guys are funny and listing which ever cues you know that have piano in them. If you haven't heard the firm, which the entire movie is scored by piano, check it out. Very creative.

"Zimmer's music is like a middle school football jock who's the most popular kid in town because he pays a team of six students to update his MySpace while he works out for six hours a day and hits on girls three years older than him. That would explain the masculinity. I also have an alternative hypothesis wherein Zimmer's music is a chronically depressed "emo" kid, but I think I've made my point." - Cerrabore

just to let whomever wrote that know. Everyone in the business considers Zimmer to be the hardest working composer in Los Angeles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.